The Quaich's Journeys Through Japan

[CDNSushi]

At the peak, I drank another toast to the Quest of the Quaich, and my friends, the rabble at XMTS.







At the top of Shosenkyo (but not the peak of Yasaburo) is also a curious, little Shinto fertility shrine. I won't say much about it, other than that it's important to remember that Japanese people do not share the same Judeo-Christian heritage that Westerners do… Things like this make us giggle!



The next photo…. Umm.. It's not that it's not safe for work or anything like that… But I want to be sensitive to others as well. I realize this is a family-friendly site. So I will describe the photo to you in words, and if you decide that you are alright with it, go ahead and click through. The shrine contains a rather oddly-shaped tree stump; some might say that it could be taken to be the form of human genitalia, and wrapped with sacred rope and sacred rice paper…

http://img43.imageshack.us/i/dscf1847e.jpg

On my way racing down the mountain to catch the sunset at Mt. Fuji, I couldn't help but stop to pose with her in the background, and Kofu City, which has been my home for almost the past decade.





With the sun rapidly dipping beneath the mountains, I caught one more daylight shot of Fuji when I got quite close. It's actually quite difficult to get a good shot without there being buildings and power lines in the way… But get TOO close, and you need a crazy wide-angle lens just to make it fit into the photo frame…



One of the sunset shots I took at Lake Yamanakako. This is truly a great place to experience a Mt. Fuji sunset, and I made it just in time.



Then, as I said in the logbook, I posed with the Quaich one last time and drank one final toast before packing her back in the box, ready to ship to Australia.

[CDNSushi]

Some interesting tidbits that don't really belong anywhere, so I'm including them here.

The FULL, uncut, unabridged, photo collection is on my website HERE, but the majority of the pictures are re-posted in this thread, so you really aren't missing much unless you want to see them in a slideshow format.

2 Interesting quotes written into the logbook:

"To friends around the world!"
- Angela Rasmussen

"Where ever a blossom may fall
a lost soul we do recall"
- Charles Bentley

Amount of whisky required for "toasting" purposes: 4. (3 bottles of Glenfiddich, 1 bottle of Japanese Single Malt)

Amount of non-whisky beverages consumed: Many, many, many.

Kilts worn for hosting the Quaich:
- Isle of Skye
- Thomson Camel
- Freedom of Scotland

Prefectures visited: 4

I also felt that I should send the Quaich off with a wee bit of Japan too… I will leave it up to her future recipients whether to pass these along, or keep them, or replace them with some mementos and trinkets of their own:

Included with the Quaich and sent to Australia:
- Flag of Japan
- silk cloth with Japanese floral design
- print of Mt. Fuji
- some ticket stubs in Japanese from places visited
- a set of Hello Kitty chopsticks (<-- ESSENTIAL, if you ask me!) ;-)

Thank you all for allowing me to be a part of this wonderful project. This is where my Odyssey ends. Now, without further ado...

Onwards to Australia!!!!!